June 01, 2005
The Mermaid
From, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Excerpt: Act 2 Scene 1
by William Shakespeare
OBERON
"My gentle Puck, come hither: thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea-maid's music."
Macro photograph made at Ingleside Vineyards & Winery on our trip along Virginia's Northern Neck over Memorial Day Weekend. The mermaid statue is in fact a wine bottle holder. I really can not post a photo of a mermaid and not mention that one of my favorite films is 1984's Splash starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. I still have my boyhood crush on Daryl Hannah.
I LOVE Daryl Hannah too. How close to the screen did we sit?
My favorite "Mermaid" song?
Can anyone identify? This is a hard one.
You look different every time
You come from the foam - crested brine
It’s your skin shining softly in the moonlight
Partly fish, partly porpoise, partly baby sperm whale
Am I yours? are you mine to play with?
Joking apart, when you’re drunk you’re terrific
When you’re drunk I like you mostly late at night
You’re quite allright
But I can’t understand the different you
In the morning
When it’s time to play at being human for a while
We smile, we smile, we smile
You’ll be different in the spring, I know
You’re a seasonal beast
Like the starfish that drift in with the tide, with the tide
So until your blood runs to meet the next full moon
Your madness fits in nicely with my own, with my own
Your lunacy fits neatly with my own
My very own
We’re not alone
Last verse of "The Mermaid Song" by Shel Silverstein...
"Then one day she swam away off with the shrimps and the whales
And I missed her skin and her seaweed hair and the silvery swish of her tail
And then her sister she swam by and set my heart a whirl
For the upper half was an ugly fish but the lower part was a girl
And her toes were pink and rosy, Her knees were warm and pale
Her legs they were a work of art I loved that girl with all my heart
And I don't give a damn about the upper part and that's how I end my tale."